This morning, New York Fed President William Dudley spoke to the press about the growing resilience of the U.S. household sector. His speech was followed by a briefing by New York Fed economists on developments in household borrowing. Their presentation included a detailed decomposition on mortgage borrowing and payment trends, and some new research on …
Recently a couple of statements from people I know inside the debt relief industry have struck me. It seems there is a general lack of understanding why it is getting harder to sell debt relief services. Some blame the Consumer Financial protection Bureau (CFPB) for cracking down and some blame me for writing about the …
If you recently stayed at a Hilton Hotel, Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Hampton Inn and Suites, or Waldorf Astoria – a hack may have exposed your financial details. Banks have identified a pattern of fraud that strongly suggests certain payment systems in these Hilton Hotel properties in several locations were hacked, exposing customer payment card information. …
For debt relief companies who have been suffering from a lack of consumer demand, there is news out today that indicates demand might be increasing in the near-term. TransUnion says “total outstanding credit card balances increased 5% on a yearly basis. The increase indicates record growth, the highest yearly growth observed since 2008.” If this …
Is your mailbox getting stuffed with offers from creditors? Here is a recent offer from Discover Bank that appears to be a debt consolidation loan to pay off debt. In order to help people better understand the offer, I’ll break it down for you below, page by page, and point out what I think are …
Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warned credit card companies against deceptively marketing interest-rate promotions. The Bureau is concerned that some companies are luring in consumers with offers of reduced or zero interest for a specific purchase or balances transferred from another credit card, and then hitting them with surprise interest charges. In the …
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered Bank of America, N.A. and FIA Card Services, N.A. to provide an estimated $727 million in relief to consumers harmed by practices related to credit card add-on products. Roughly 1.4 million consumers were affected by Bank of America’s deceptive marketing of their add-on products. Bank of America …
On Christmas Eve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered American Express to refund an estimated $59.5 million to more than 335,000 consumers for illegal credit card practices. These practices included unfair billing tactics and deceptive marketing with respect to credit card “add-on products” such as payment protection and credit monitoring. American Express will pay …
Is the Wells Fargo Home Rebate Credit Card a smart card to use? Despite an initial flurry of rebates, 3% rebate on gas, grocery, and drugstore net purchases for the first 6 months, cardholders will get 1% rebates that will pay down Wells Fargo home mortgage. So let’s do the math here. First off, a …
Thanks to an awesome reader, Almost Debt Free in Seattle, I have received the following credit offer to review as part of my I Buy Junk Mail program. This offer is from Credit One Bank for a Platinum Visa card to build a “solid credit history.” These type of major credit cards that report to …